10,000 Hours

During my 7-mile walk-run this past Saturday I had the unexpected pleasure of the company of my brother, James Batchelor. Just as a bit of background, James is a very talented writer who is working on his lifelong dream of becoming a successful full-time author and writer, allowing him to support his family with his pen, or keyboard, if you will. As fellow dreamers, James and I have been down a lot of the same roads and struggled with some of the same challenges, doubts, and limiting beliefs along the way. This has led to some very interesting conversations. We are quite the philosophers, James and I, and exploring our experiences together has brought me a lot of insights, ideas, and even a few game changers. Our conversation this past Saturday seems be leading me to another of those game changers.

As we walked, we found ourselves discussing a book James had read recently called Outliers. He told me about the first part of the book where it discusses three divisions that can be seen among the students of The Juilliard School at any given time. I won't attempt to repeat the entire conversation, but there is one point that stayed with me and that I have not stopped thinking about since that walk. The top tier of students at Juilliard always consists of those students who apply themselves to such an extent that they have reached or will reach at least 10,000 hours of dedicated practice in their area of focus by the time they reach age 20. This equates to roughly 3 hours every day for 10 years. It doesn't matter how much raw or innate talent the students have. All that matters is how much time they apply themselves to practicing their art. After 10,000 dedicated hours, they become experts, or masters. They know that thing inside and out--it becomes a part of them.

So here is what I took away from the conversation. First, anybody can become anything they want to be if they are willing to apply themselves. Second, if I want to really master anything, I have to dedicate my time and energy to that thing in a very significant way. I will have to sacrifice other, less important things in order to devote more time to this one, chosen path.

Now I have some decisions to make. I am the type of person who does not do things halfway. I want to be the best at everything I do. But if being the best means devoting so many hours and so much energy and intention each day to that one thing, then I have to make a choice. I cannot master everything. Prior to this conversation I think maybe a part of me thought that I could, and now I find myself in this conundrum as I see that I cannot keep moving down this path I have been traveling. I must choose, but what is the best path for me? What thing am I most passionate about? What will bring me the most happiness and satisfaction at the end of the day? Which choice will bring me the greatest success? What will help me reach my goals for my life? What would you choose?

Decisions, decisions...